On Mon, Jun 25, 2001 at 12:21:10PM -0400, Dave McGuire wrote:
> What I find infuriating about this is the damned suits at Compaq (and
> everywhere else, it seems) seem to be under the impression that
> processor architecture is a BUSINESS DECISION.
> Where do these morons get off with this bullshit?
Because it is. Computers aren't built by techies, after all; they're built
by corporations that have to be run like businesses, or else they weaken and
die (or get bought up, as happened to DEC).
I have no trouble at all understanding Compaq's motive, especially since
that same retrenchment is staring my father in the face with a layoff (and I
might well have been in the same boat had I not been recruited away).
They're cutting costs like mad. The Alpha is very costly *taken as a
business*, especially when compared to the revenue it generates. There
aren't a lot of other companies that can do anything with it, for various
reasons, political or financial. (AMD never delivered on their half of the
Slot B deal, and so why expect them to do anything with the Alpha?)
I think that this represents a loss for Compaq and for computing, but unless
you're willing to sink a billion dollars or so into it to make your vision a
reality - with the great likelihood that that billion dollars will evaporate
into air thinner than Bill Gates's promises of open source access to M$
software - there's not going to be a lot you (generically) can do about it.